One Great Dish: Susan's Traditional Club

(Credit: John Rott)

The sandwich is the perfect lunch food. It’s ideal — a cold-cut meat, a tasty cheese, a flavorful bread and a veggie and a sauce, literally a cornucopia of flavors from across the foodosphere. And it’s convenient: You eat a sandwich with your hands and there’s no mess. It’s not too heavy; a sandwich never weighs you down as you get geared up for the second half of the day. But it’s also filling.

Nothing beats a sandwich. And, in Louisville, few sandwich-makers beat Stevens & Stevens Delicatessen. Tucked behind Ditto’s on Bardstown Road, Stevens & Stevens serves creative and tasty sandwiches that are the afternoon delights of Louisvillians lucky enough to find a parking space near the place. The restaurant’s charm is almost excessive, with famous actors and film scenes painted on the walls and a menu that’s a cinephile’s dream. There’s the Arnold Hamanegger (ham, provolone, egg salad and honey cup mustard, served hot) and the Woody Allen (hot pastrami brisket on rye, with mustard). What’s not to love? The thing is, Louisville’s exessively interesting dining scene does creative things well, but this doesn’t help when you just want a dish that’s tasty and simple. So say you’re not in the mood for the French Connection, with its foccacia bread and spring greens and melted brie. Maybe you just want a club sandwich damn it, hold the cute.

Stevens & Stevens can do that, too, and it does it well. Try Susan’s Traditional Club, and ignore the eyeroll from the hipster behind you in line. One look at the thick hunks of turkey, ham and cheddar and you know you’re getting $6.25 worth of sandwich. There’s the obligatory lettuce and tomato balancing with the heaviness of the meats, and mayo holding things together. But the savory applewood bacon adds a kick that makes this mundane type of sandwich something special. Pair it with one of Stevens & Stevens’ interesting pastas, and you’ll be glad you passed over the Dr. Zhivago for something so deliciously familiar.